“Oh, yes,” he answered, “I try to. Even if it’s only for fifteen minutes.”

“That’s excellent. It shows in your playing.”

“Well, I try,” he said.

After his lesson, I began to think about what he had said. Given the demands of my busy teaching and performing schedule, it was hard for me to find enough time to practice myself.

While I counseled my students to practice every day, even if it’s just a little bit, I often failed to follow my own advice.

Thinking about Thomas’ approach, I realized what my error was. I had always tried to set aside at least two hours at a time to practice. If I didn’t have two hours, then I thought I couldn’t practice. So time went by, and no practicing got done.

Inspired by Thomas’ success, I completely revamped my approach to practicing. I stopped worrying about having a certain amount of time to practice. Let’s say I only have twenty minutes to spare. So what? It’s better than no practice at all! Not surprisingly, it worked marvelously.

I started looking for other ways to incorporate this lesson in my life. If it works for piano, it could work for other things: writing, household chores, exercise.

There are just not enough hours in the day to do everything…but there are half hours, or spots of five or ten minutes scattered throughout where you can do something.

These little snippets of time often get wasted because we feel like there’s not really enough time to start anything. But there is.

Ways You Can Utilize Your Time To The Max

1. Do mini exercises

Try this strategy: If you’re waiting for the coffee water to boil, use that time to put dishes away, or do leg lifts or squats. You don’t have to do a half hour workout all in the same half hour.

Sometimes we put off a task because it seems like a big commitment. How many of us dread our half hour or hour workout? I never dread fifteen minutes; certainly not five. Fifty sit-ups once a week is intimidating; ten sit-ups five days a week is not. It’s such a short time that it’s over before I know it.

This also decreases my stress; the stress of worrying that I won’t get everything done, the stress of facing a daunting task, and the stress of not doing things I need and want to do. Without really cramming my day full, I have the satisfaction of knowing that I am managing to accomplish the things that are important to me.

2. Take a book with you

Having trouble finding time to read? Carry a book with you everywhere—at the doctor’s office (always more time than you planned there!), or in line at the bank (if you still do your banking in person).

3. Keep a time log

While you’re at it, start counting the number of minutes you spend on other things.

For example, I’m highly addicted to Spider Solitaire, and usually play a game in the morning on my computer while eating breakfast. That’s okay, but if I’m not careful, a ten-minute session can turn into a half an hour – thus losing twenty minutes I could have spent on something else on my list.

4. Use the time you save!

Obviously, some goals cannot be achieved in five or ten minutes a day. If you want to visit Hawaii, you’ll need a big stretch of time. But if you manage the time you have well enough, you might be able to save enough time to do things that take longer, like volunteer, or take a trip, or join a reading group.

The Takeaway

Whether you believe it or not, you do have enough time. Five minutes, ten minutes, fifteen minutes or a half hour may not seem like much, but over time the little bits accumulate, and you achieve some of your goals. When you do something almost every day, it gets to be a habit. In a few months, with what seems like very little effort, you can accomplish a great deal.

Julie Moffitt is a full time professional musician; teacher, composer and performer. In her spare time, she is a free-lance writer of poetry and non-fiction, with a focus on self-improvement and personal introspection. She is co-editor, with her sister Sally Zaino, of the poetry journal Earthshine. She maintains a blog of self-improvement essays as well.